you can bet that the clubs that will agree to this are the one's in the G14. no other club will be allowed to break this.

I think it's a bit wrong that they're all having a dig at us now we can not just compete but outbid. Having said that, it would be good if they imposed some sort of limit to a clubs spend per year

Here we go again, Europe interfering in U.K matters when it suits them to do so.
Bad enough of the Brussels bureaucrats laying ridiculous laws down without these football bullies poking their noses in.
Time they had THEIR salaries and powers capped, methinks.
One law for such as Real Madrid and another for British clubs.

Platini hates English football, I believe it goes back to when he scored the goal in the "Heysel" final. Lets face it he played for a Juventus side who's wealth allowed them to dominate the Eighties. I notice the likes of Wenger have only come out in support of financial restraints after they had built their new stadium.

So Utd have been at this for years & so have Chelsea now there is a level playing field someone wants to change the rules to give them back the advantage. Not fair at all

What is this!! What now!!!??
All this comments on City is getting really annoying. There´s been silly money in fotball for many years. How come everyone is picking on City?
Never heard anything when Galaxy signed Beckham, or other "minor" clubs doing the same. I really hope we sign BIG in summer and make some people sweat and moan little bit more.......
If any club deserve eastern money it´s City. 33 y!!

Although the hypocrise of it all stinks to high heaven, if Platini thinks for one second that imposing a cap based on revenues will prevent the upstart likes of City breaking into the elite he's got another thing coming. What this guy fails to appreciate is quite simply there are people out there who are far cleverer than he is e.g. the Sheikh and his accountants.
If this law does come into effect, and I have my doubts, the Sheikh's team will have a number of ways to get round the requirements e.g. the Sheikh could "artificially" inflate revenues by buying 4 quadrillion shirts at 300 pounds a pop.
It's a game of cat and mouse, and usually those imposing the laws are outwitted by those paid to find the loopholes.

So if every player is only allowed to earn a maximum of say £20,000 a week, where are all the best players going to end up ? Certainly won't be Wigan...the G14 Clubs will then continue to pick the best players and dominate as usual, what a great blue print for the future of football...all the USA would have to do is offer more money, and hey presto, all the worlds' best players will end up in the MLS- most footballers are pretty mercenary, despite the odd exception. It's already happening in Rugby Union with our players being capped in England, now many of them are heading out to play in France...Mr. Platini would not be having these discussions it it was Real Madrid making the bid for Kaka.
I for one, cannot wait until the big four are seriously challenged and their domination broken, only then will the future of football look better...

I am all for a salary cap = but how can it be "fair" as Mr Platini calls it, unless it is the same for all clubs across Europe? A percentage of income means the bigger clubs can still pay for the best players and the smaller clubs still can't. If we have caused a rethink that will mean any team has a chance of winning the league then great I think. It is a shame though that this wasn't thought about when United, Liverpool and Chelsea were buying themselves glory.

If Mr Platini really wants leagues that allow anyone to win, he should work out a figure that all top teams can afford and make that the wage budget. Players could only move by trading - similar to America where a player keeps the same contract which goes wherever they go and affects their team's budget accordingly and so good players are sometimes traded for players with smaller contracts etc. At the end of their contract the player could either agree a new contract or go to a wage auction.

One other thing - to avoid big teams just putting loads into their youth policy by putting any talent at all on their books just n case they turn out to be good, I would argue for a central system where young players are not affiliated to clubs, but are drafted (again- like in America) with lower ranked teams having first picks, when they reach a certain age.

It all reads like very sensible stuff from Monsieur Platini, doesn't it? Stopping clubs from over-spending and going bust, stopping the nouveaux riches (such as City) from distorting the market and unbalancing the level playing field. Why, even the top spenders like Madrid, Barcelona and United are in favour! So what can possibly be wrong with the idea? Well..........

1. Limiting smaller clubs to spending a fixed percentage of their total direct and indirect football-related income will mean the smaller clubs will never be able to buy top players or pay top wages.

2. Limiting clubs such as Milan, United, Madrid and Barcelona to the same constraints, bearing in mind that their income is enormous, will allow them to continue paying top wages to top players, effectively forming a small clique of super-clubs that the rest of Europe cannot join.

3. By effectively limiting the size of the pool of clubs able to compete financially for players, it will mean that transfer fees and wages will tend to fall, saving the elite clubs plenty of money, whilst at the same time still preventing the smaller clubs from entering the magic circle.

4. The idea will benefit clubs (such as those in France, by pure coincidence) that receive substantial subventions from local and regional government bodies.

Brilliant idea and a perfect example of French central planning!

Don't worry platosh, city won't win any the next decade

Come on M.E.N. why do you print this dross. They should have legislated when footballers started earning more than factory workers. Portsmouth can't even heat their pitch to avoid postponing matches in the winter but they pay 100 grand a week to Sol Campbell.....

Why are City getting stick, we aren't doing anybody any harm, kids can go to matches for a fiver, my boys season tickets are £95 per year? If, as a business, they are in a position to spend these sums of money on players like Kaka then so be it.

Let's face it, Platini hate's the English and is bitter that he wasn't born 20 years later so he could get in on this big money......... although I bet he was earning more than average wage. I wonder how much he's earning now at UEFA - hypocrite!

Stop supporting this two faced propaganda for goodness sake.

The last three paragraphs in particular made me gag.

"Whatever happens, please do not stop us, on the basis of inappropriate legislation, from establishing financial fair play," he added.

"Do not stop us from putting in place mechanisms that foster the integrity of our competitions and more transparency in the management of our affairs.

"Do not stop us from acting morally. Especially when all the stakeholders - clubs, players and national associations - agree with my proposals for greater financial transparency and better governance."

Oh, please!! Do us all a favour - bore off and put a sock in it, you pathetic old windbag.

In essence, Platini is asking UEFA to put a stop to teams trying to compete with the established royalty... What he sees as moral is simply a way of controlling the rest of the football world. If UEFA caps every team's spending power to say, 30% of their income, then League Two teams will likely be able to spend a couple thousand a year to buy new players. Whereas a team like United, even with their vast debt, will be able to spend in excess of 90m based on their last figure... Again, ultimately the top 3 teams will remain the top 3 teams indefinitely for every league. Every league will resemble Italy and Spain... If this crap passes, I may just stop watching football. The only possible way such a cap would be fair and competative was if it was tiered from the top team down, much like the NBA draft. League winner: 18% max. 17th place: 45-50%. Otherwise smaller teams will never be able to buy in better players. Such a system would allow top teams to really only buy one star player a year. But if there really are any doubters of football's ability to self-control, look at United's sole purchase of Berbaflop and relative inactivity in the transfer market of late. Chelsea has been the same. Inter hasn't bought anyone shocking. Real is still chasing only Ronaldo with any kind of vigor. Barca has been quiet. AC Milan is trying desperately to sign every aging superstar in the world... I think it's a complete joke that because ONE team has silly money to throw around, and STILL can't obtain their target, now it's a dire emergency to cap every team in Europe's spending. How can we shut all these people up? Was there this much complaining when Abromovich bought Chelsea?

"astronomical" "outrageous" "scandalous" "tremendous outcry in the football family"

How long are City going to be singled out and criticised with this cynically provocative use of language?

And the likes of Real Madrid and United may not be 'immune to the global economic downturn', but they have been allowed to enforce their own 'excesses' for considerably longer than it took Platini and Co to jump on City's good fortune and turn it into some kind of unfortunate pestilence threatening the Old Boy's Club that seems to be football.

Typical cry baby - Don't moan when Madrid or Moan u make rediculous bids - But when it is MCFC it is a going to kill football.

NO ONE LIKES US - WE DON'T CARE!!!!!!

COME ON CITY!!!!!

Everyone has GANGED up on us now! its nothing but a witch hunt borne out of sheer envy,David Villa has reportably said he would turn down a £50M move to City.All the 'BIG' money United have spent buying titles yet nothing was said OK Chelsea did get castigated for doing the same but I suspect it was only because they were halting Uniteds dominance.MUFC for years manipulated and monopolised the whole market including Youth by means of luxurious meeting places,brown envelopes and spin doctoring yet again nothing done to stop it until some clubs sussed it out and motions were set in place implying more stringent rules as far as poaching not only the established top players but young kids from othe academies also in truth MUFC were the biggest poachers of the whole lot --FACT - now CITY have the financial clout not by illegal poaching but by sheer power and influence having already the best Academy in Europe,a Youth system that is a yardstick to all the other Acadamies they now have joined this elite group but are not welcome at all Platina has confirmed this fact.If Platinis proposals are accepted clubs such as Real Madrid and Man Utd will never be emulated so this is right up their street the monopoly will continue and clubs like MCFC will be blown out of the water.Its already looking ominously like a false dawn once again with the hirearchy of the 'SWAMP' laughing at the also rans enjoying more OBSCENE DOMINANCE.The bottom line is Mr Mansour and his group now have a momentous job facing them in trying to combat such an undemocratic motion....

I actually agree with his views in principle and maybe it is unfortunate that our club in now the scapegoat. The general bad feeling towards our club is fair game, but slightly hypocritical on some fronts.

The so-called big four have had a monopoly when it comes to spending, because their increased revenue from the Champions League meant the rest couldn’t compete. Man United have always been the biggest spenders in the modern era, but nobody calls foul. Liverpool have spent a small fortune in trying to catch them, but Benitez gets away with misspending vast amounts because of the Champs League revenue. The same applies to the holy Arsenal and the prophet Wenger. They have still spent big money on a number of English failures Jeffers, Wright etc and the likes of Henry and Bergkamp (pre Wenger) weren’t really in everyone’s price range at the time of purchase. Then came Chelsea, who never received as much criticism from the media, even though they purchased most their rivals young English talent, only to see let them rot on the bench. I won’t go onto the likes of Real Madrid and Munich as I believe you catch my drift…

Bring on the salary and transfer fee cap in my view, then EUFA can feel good about themselves for creating this monster in the first place!!

Let's look at the situation in Rugby, France don't have a salary cap and can afford to offer top players higher wages that teams in England. So the top players are beginning to move over there. Is that what we want? Our top players playing in foreign leagues?

Unless there is a world salary cap this can not work! And if there was a salary cap we would either see the money go into chairmen's pockets or see a huge increase in transfer fees.

What does Platinni want to limit? The amount of foreign players in teams? So we only see French in the French league, English in the English league etc . Well wouldn't that be boring! Also what happens to the poor players from Africa, parts of Asia and South America? They can no longer play at the top level? Because this is what will happen if you limit spending, introduce salary caps and limit where players go. It’s a breach of human rights and one thing I’m glad European Law will probably veto.

There's one simply solution to what I see as Platini's main worry- the development of local youth players- is whatever your expenditure was for a year, you have to spend a certain fixed percentage of that expenditure on local youth development such as academies and local sport centres etc. That way rich teams like City, Chelsea etc will invest in the communities around them and not just on star players.

We do it anyway but I bet Platinni hasn't looked at that! City are the front runners for academy development, charity and community work, plus we're the only team to lower their prices for fans, yet we're at the top of the list for abuse from these fools!

When Utd won the European cup he said it was ridiculous that a football team that was in debt to the tune of over £800mill should be allowed to win the cup !. So now he's having a go at a football team that wants to get on a level playing field as the so called big clubs across Europe with there OWN money & not the banks ?. By bringing in such red tape he is tying the hands of any football club that wishes to compete at the highest level because the rich will always be richer. The man is a complete plonker & was to blame for the non tackling farce in the 2nd round of the World Cup when, guess who won ?. Yep FRANCE !.

There is another way to look at this of course. Those players that want bigger/better wages will want to sign for City before the legislation comes in. Thanks Michel!!

Wealthy benefactors have always "backed" their favoured teams with their OWN funds and many on a commercialy acceptable basis. Recently, as well as MCFC, Liverpoool/ Everton, Blackburn Rovers, Aston Villa, West Ham. Chelsea etc. Others are funding clubs with other peoples money by "leveraged" loans - EG MUFC. Where will Monsieur Plattini draw the line.

Did not hear a peep from him when th Euro gang of 14 where scooping the talent pool with Big Bucks. Remind me - What did Madrid pay for his countryman Zidanne? MUFC for Berbatov and Rooney? etc. Chelsea for Shevchenko? Now - What I think Mr Plattini - it is OK for the gang of 14 to wiggle players about amongst themselves BUT not outside the "ring" to de-stabalise the status quo! As an ex-player for "The Old Lady" he will be well lobbied to do whatever it takes to keep the 14 part gravy train circle intact!

It's time Mr Cook & the MCFC hierachy took a stance & rammed soume profound words right down Mr Platini's neck !!.

Pathetic Platini, what your proposing will defiately kill the smaller clubs,NO WONDER FOOTBALL IS IN TROUBLE WITHH TWO FACE IDIOTS LIKE HIM RUNNING THE GOVERNING BODDIES LE,PLONKER!! CTID.

Don't worry platosh, city won't win any the next decade
President Bur
18/02/2009 at 14:25

Care to put your money where your mouth is?